Rise of Legends (The Kin of Kings Book 2) (2 page)

“Why kill because of portals?” he shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth.

“Basen!” Annah blurted, but he ignored her.

“Explain yourself!” he continued, glad that the wall guards and the students within sight had all turned toward him. Hopefully, the murderer was one of them. “Tell me why the portals are worth killing for! What do I need to understand?”

As people looked around curiously at each other, Annah pushed her palm down in front of Basen in hopes of quieting him. “You can’t possibly expect the murderer to come out,” she said.

“Not at the moment, but maybe now she’ll find a way to communicate with me before attempting to take my life.”

People began turning away from Basen to go back to their business. With Annah’s spyglass still in hand, he glimpsed over the northern wall of the Academy and into the Fjallejon Mountains. A great chasm split the mountains in half directly in front of him, but he could see only a short distance into it before the chasm twisted. Tauwin’s men probably were guarding the path, which was the quickest way to Tenred, where he used to live. He looked to the lofty peaks and spotted some of Tauwin’s men looking back with their own spyglasses. He gave them a rude gesture.

The only other way to Tenred besides through the Fjallejon Mountains was to the east. But as Basen looked that way, he was disappointed to see that Tauwin’s troops had made camp around Lake Kayvol about four miles out. There were only two thousand tents at most, but everyone from the Academy would need to fight to ensure a victory there, and they would leave the school undefended during the battle.

He sighed as he gave Annah back her spyglass. “It didn’t take them more than a day to surround us.”

She looked through the spyglass at the Fjallejon Mountains, then turned to face Lake Kayvol. “The second- and third-years believe strongly in Headmaster Terren. They say he’ll come up with a plan.”

“He’d better, and quickly. I don’t know why Tauwin is waiting to attack, but I imagine this reprieve won’t last long.”

She put the spyglass back in her bag. “Maybe your father’s army is distracting him.”

“I’d like to think you’re right.”

A guard came up the ramp to the wall. “Basen Hiller?”

“Yes.”

Basen said goodbye to Annah, then walked to meet the guard halfway. Basen already knew he was being summoned by the headmaster to recount the events of last night that had resulted in Alex’s death.

CHAPTER TWO

Cleve quietly got out of Reela’s bed so as not to wake her. He tended to rise early so he had time for second helpings of breakfast and a morning lap around Warrior’s Field, while Reela would never awake before sunup if she could help it.

After he dressed and emerged from Reela’s room, he noticed the door to Effie’s room was open, though she wasn’t there. Strange. Usually when she slept at Alex’s campus house, she closed the door to her room before leaving. Sometimes the small mage would be waiting for Cleve in the kitchen so they could walk to the dining hall together, but she wasn’t there, either. He didn’t think much of it as he walked outside and made sure to lock the front door after him, a painful reminder that no one was safe within the Academy’s walls until the murderer was found. Even then, they still had to worry about Tauwin’s army. Cleve sighed as he turned and pocketed his key.

The sight of Effie startled him. She had on a dress that was too large for her, its sleeves coming over her hands and its hem dragging on the dirt. In her arms was a bundle of bloody clothes.

“What the bastial hell happened?” Cleve asked, looking her over for injuries. She seemed to have none.

“There will be a Redfield announcement after breakfast,” she said in a lifeless tone. She looked like a ghost as she stared through Cleve, waiting for him to move so she could get to the door. Her wavy black hair covered one side of her face, a stark contrast to her blanched skin, while her dark eyes would not lift from Cleve’s chest.

She seemed to be in no mood to speak. Cleve had never seen Effie like this. Something terrible must’ve happened.

“Here, let me help you.” He unlocked the door with one hand and put the other on her back. He guided her to her room and took the clothes from her cold arms. She began to shiver as she stared at the ground.

“You should lie down.”

He tried to ease her toward her bed, but she wouldn’t move or speak. He knew only one thing to do: fetch her closest friend. He went back to Reela’s room and gently shook her shoulder. She sat up with a start.

“What is it?” Reela clearly knew something was wrong for Cleve to wake her.

“Something happened with Effie,” he whispered. “She needs your help.”

Reela jumped out of bed without another word, wrapping a sheet around her naked body in the process. Psyche must’ve told her exactly where Effie was, for Reela hurried straight to her friend’s room.

By the time Cleve followed, Effie was crying on Reela’s shoulder. He stood in the doorway, unsure what to do as she stroked Effie’s hair.

“It’s all right, Cleve,” Reela told him. “Go on.”

He nodded and left, knowing that whatever ailed Effie, Reela had the best chance of helping. As he walked to the dining hall, he couldn’t help but think this was related to Alex.

Cleve pushed that terrible thought about one of his closest friends out of his mind. He’d had much practice ignoring his inner voice in the nine years since his parents had been killed, and soon his head was clear. He could wait until the Redfield announcement.
Whatever has happened, I will live on,
he reminded himself.
Death either weakens us or makes us stronger.

So he thought it was death.

Walking to the dining hall didn’t get him there fast enough and he broke out in a run.

The hall was more crowded than it usually was this early in the morning. Cleve waited in line to get his first helping of porridge and buttered bread, which he watched come straight from the oven before being sliced in front of him.

There were a few empty tables left, and Cleve chose the closest one. Once half his porridge was in his stomach, he noticed Peter a few tables away. Cleve quickly looked down in hopes of not being noticed, but being nearly the largest student in the school made it difficult to be inconspicuous. He ate for a while, then chanced another look. Peter was on his way over.

A bitter taste came to Cleve’s mouth as Peter sat in front of him with his bowl of porridge in hand. The warrior matched Cleve’s size, but that’s where their similarities ended. Peter enjoyed demonstrating his dominance over his fellow warriors through pain and embarrassment whenever he had the chance.

“What do you want?” Cleve spat out.

“We need to figure out who did it so we can kill them before they strike again.” Peter’s deadpan tone stilled Cleve’s heart.

“What happened?”

Peter stared at Cleve and looked ready to retch. “How do you not know? Everyone’s talking about it.”

“Just tell me.”

Peter paled further at having to deliver the news. “There was another murder during the night. The same person who killed Nick killed another.”

Cleve set down his spoon as a cold sweat came over him. He already knew what Peter was going to say.

“It was one of ours, Cleve. One of our best.”

Time seemed to slow as Peter spoke Alex’s name.

Peter paused then, clearly waiting for Cleve to say something, but just keeping down his breakfast was difficult enough.

Peter went on to tell Cleve how it had happened, something about Effie and Basen being with Alex and Basen casting portals as the reason behind the attack. But Cleve couldn’t quite understand or feel anything except a deep devastation that threatened to overwhelm him if he didn’t contain it.

The Redfield bell dinged, but it did nothing to draw Cleve away from his inner battle. The ringing stopped after three loud chimes, signifying that everyone needed to meet at the stadium for an announcement.

Peter stood and said, “I’m sure Terren will repeat what I just told you.”

*****

Cleve couldn’t find Reela or Effie at Redfield, but he was able to locate Steffen among the hundreds of long benches wrapping around the circular stadium. Steffen greeted him with his usual enthusiastic smile.

“Good morning, Cleve.” He obviously hadn’t heard the horrible news.

“What did you see when you left our house?” Cleve asked.

Confusion took away Steffen’s smile. “What did I see?”

“Where were Effie and Reela?”

“I believe they were in Effie’s room with the door closed. Why?”

Cleve couldn’t bring himself to say it. Fortunately, Terren stood in the center of the stadium and lifted his arms, showing it was time to begin. An uneasy silence fell over the crowd.

“Last night, Basen Hiller went to the mages’ Group One training area and was accompanied by Effie Elegin and Alarex Baom,” Terren began.

It had been so long since Cleve had heard Alex’s full name that it didn’t sound familiar. He glanced around the stadium to find sad, expectant faces.

“Basen went there to practice creating portals,” Terren continued. “We have confirmed that he is able to make them.”

There were no sounds of surprise, which seemed to confuse Terren. Then his face set back into the hard stare Cleve was used to. “You all must have heard this already.” Most everyone began to nod. “Then I will make the summary of the event brief to get to the important part. Alarex—or Alex, as he was known here—was killed while he, Basen, and Effie fought off a psychic attacker. We strongly believe this psychic is the same person who killed Nick. He or she apparently first thought it was Nick who’d created the portals in his room. However, it was Basen who made these portals, for he was unable to practice them in his own room because of limitations that we’re still investigating. Like the rest of us, Basen had no idea someone would kill to stop the making of these portals, so he is not to blame.”

Terren cleared his throat and made a sweeping gesture at the thousands of students around him. “The blame goes to the one person here who killed Nick and Alex. We already have theories about who you are.” His voice rose as he continued to gesture at the audience. “You’re shorter than most men yet taller than most women. You’re stronger with psyche than our best psychics, yet you might be enrolled as a warrior, chemist, or mage. You’re in possession of black robes that completely conceal you, even your face.”

Terren finally let down his hand. “There’s more we know about you, but I’ll stop there. This is your chance, whoever you are, to come before us and explain yourself. You will be detained and questioned, but you will live. If you do not take this opportunity now, you’ll be killed without a trial when you’re discovered—and you
will
be discovered. Come down here now!”

Murmurs arose as people turned their heads to look around, Cleve and Steffen joining in. He heard Steffen whisper, “Please come out.”

Terren repeated his demand a few more times but got no response except for the murmuring of the crowd.

“Fine,” Terren concluded. “There’s no point in questioning loyalty, because whoever is responsible for the deaths of our comrades is able to lie to our psychics without detection. I’m adding two new rules. The first is that no one is to go anywhere alone. The second is that everyone is to stay inside their houses at night. Chamber pots are being distributed in case you need to relieve yourself. These rules don’t mean you should worry. They’re being put in place so you don’t have to worry about more deaths.

“Battle training will continue, but if you need to speak to an instructor about anything, we’re here to help you. We’re prepared for any battle. It might not seem this way to some of you, probably many of you first-years, but it’s the truth. There’s still much training to be done for all of you to reach your potential. But even if Abith Max returns tomorrow with twice as many men as before, we’ll still be standing when he gives the order to retreat.” As usual, Terren evoked applause with what seemed like an unplanned speech.

Cleve didn’t want to wait for his next battle. The need for revenge made him hunger for it.

Terren told them to get to battle training, and the stadium quickly cleared.

The person Cleve wanted to talk to most about this whole thing was Alex. He would know the right words to encompass everything Cleve was feeling.

I’ll never speak to him again.

This was the wrong way to think about death, Cleve knew, but he couldn’t help it.

Grief had seemed permanent to Cleve when he lost his parents. It made the present feel like the future. “Right now” became “eternity.” He spent years believing he would never be happy again. The death of his close friend threatened to pull him back to that state, but he was a stronger man now. He knew not to run from his feelings.

So he let the pain come. It felt like a dagger wrenching his chest. As he continued toward the center of Warrior’s Field where Group One was to meet, he cried and ached at the loss of his friend, embracing these terrible feelings coursing through him.